Steel Wing remembered flying, he hadn't flown in a while. He remembered disintegrating into nothing, but still managing to fall back to the ground. He didn't remember laying on the ground for hours as his body regenerated from a black glass orb. He didn't remember blood being produced and immediately spilling on to the ground. It wasn't until his coat began to grow back that he began to take notice of his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed consciously was, everything hurt; he could feel things moving around underneath his skin, and muscles twitching and stretching. The second, he was still alive. He'd watched his body dissolve mid air in a matter of seconds, but he'd managed to get a new one some how.

He lay there for some time, trying to make a decision about what to do next; the effort of thinking was slowed considerably by the steady pounding in his head. Eventually he decided that opening his eyes would be the best thing to do; once he remembered how to do it, the amount of effort required was lessened considerably. Remembering how to do the most basic things was a separate task from the actual performance of the action. The moment he could raise his head, he looked himself over; he didn't like what he saw.

His coat was now one solid deep purple pegasus. Just by looking at himself, Steel Wing felt as though he'd taken the body of another; that fact that he couldn't move it only added to the wrongness the situation brought on.

He started to move, doing his best to stand up; he accomplished flailing around before giving up. With all the effort he could give, Steel Wing rolled onto his back in order to look up at the clouds. He confirmed that the clouds were still there; that he was still on the surface, and that he missed seeing the stars at night as always.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steel Wing spotted something almost as grey as the clouds moving above him; more accurately it was moving towards him. There was another something, jet black, following just behind the first. Both were pony shaped as far as Steel Wing could tell. Dread took hold of him as he realized they were from the Enclave.

The jet black pegasus was wearing the standard Enclave power armor. The unarmored one Steel Wing was sure he'd seen not long ago. As they came closer Steel Wing began to take mental notes of the unarmored pegasus. It was a grey coated mare with a long and pristine white mane. As she landed Steel Wing was convinced he was simply dreaming. Her saddlebags bore the generic medical symbol used by the Enclave, a plain red cross.

"Is it really snowing?" Steel Wing said weakly, as the mare drew nearer. Steel Wing smiled at the joke only he ever really got away with, she wasn't smiling at all.

As the other pegasus landed he said, "Good eye ma'am, I didn't see it at all until you pointed it out."

Something was wrong with this dream. Steel Wing couldn't remember ever having a dream involving his sister where they weren't happy to see one another; nor had there ever really been anyone else when he dreampt at all.. To add to it, Steel Wing didn't recognize the voice of the other pegasus. The blood stuck to his coat felt real, the pain spread over every inch of his body felt real, he shuddered at the thought that he might actually be awake.

If he was really awake, Steel Wing decided what bothered him the most was he'd never seen such a look of contempt on his what was unmistakably his sister's face. She probably didn't recognize him at the moment because his appearance had been altered so dramatically, but he couldn't recall her ever having glared at a pony; even when she didn't like them she kept it between herself and her brother. The look she gave him now communicated her dislike of finding him in the first place.

"It's a he. He is alive; barely by the looks of it. He is a pegasus." Snow Storm said. Steel Wing recognized the voice.

"No way, that monster is a pegasus?" The Enclave stallion said coming closer.

"Snow?" Steel Wing said extending a hoof towards his sister.

She batted it away and glared at him. She looked about ready to crush his skull. Instead she blinked a few times, shaking her head in disagreement with some thought she'd had. When she looked back down at him Steel Wing saw a new look in her eyes. Excitement and hope. It was there and gone in a second, but Steel Wing knew she had realized something about him at the very least; he hoped against hope that she may have even recognized him as her brother.

"He certainly is a monster isn't he? I didn't know they made ponies this size, may be a genetic mutation." She looked him over again, this time appraising him for any value he may have.

"Did he just call you by name ma'am?" The armored stallion asked hesitantly.

"I didn't hear anything." She flat out lied. She then gave the stallion a look out of the corner of her eye, daring him to continue the subject.

"Must've misheard, ma'am." He withdrew slightly.

Steel Wing saw the silent threat, the way the stallion backed down instantly; an armored pony was genuinely afraid of his seemingly unarmed sister. Then he remembered what the Enclave solider who'd been disabled in the assault on Armory had told him. She was the primary surgeon, and she'd developed a bad reputation for paying back slights with botched surgeries. The nasty looks were starting to make sense; his sister stood before him a changed and bitter mare, much the same way he'd changed without her.

"You know," Snow nearly purred, "I think I want to take him with us, to study of course. It might be fun to take a peak inside of him." She grinned wickedly.

"I don't think we're allowed to do that ma'am. We aren't exactly on a research assignment." The armored pegasus backed away further.

"Fair point," She sighed in minor frustration, "Brightcloud wouldn't exactly appreciate me bringing back a project would he?" She turned to her somewhat unnerved companion with the sweetest of smiles and said, "We flew over an old farmhouse didn't we?"

"Yes ma'am, not far from here. May I ask why?" He said nervously.

"Well, like you said I can't really bring him back with me, so that means I'll have to do my research in the field."

"Ma'am?" He laughed at what he fervently hoped was a joke.

"You," Snow said with an authoritative tone, "on your hooves." Steel Wing rolled back over onto his side, trying to obey the command. He succeeded in getting stuck where he'd started.

"Keep your sights on him in case he tries to get away."

"Ma'am you can't seriously be considering dissecting a pony! That's wrong!" The Enclave soldier protested, Steel Wing completely agreed.

Any hope that his sister recognized him was quickly draining away, as was the hope that she hadn't gone completely off the deep end.

"Since when did you start caring about these filthy surface dwellers?" She said derisively, "And you, I said stand!"

With a loud groan Steel Wing did as he was told. The speed with which he got up surprised him after all the strain he'd gone through just attempting it before.

Both stallions were now obeying the nasty mare's orders.

She took off from the ground, turned and waited for Steel Wing to follow.

"Come on, up you go." The Enclave soldier primed his dual beam rifles.

"I can't." Steel Wing said flatly.

"Your wings look fine to me." He said, then whispered, "Just go, you don't want to keep this crazy bitch waiting anymore than I do."

"I'm not going to fly." Steel Wing said angrily, turning on the pegaus holding him at gun point. The soldier was reminded just how big their prisoner was.

"Why not?" Snow Storm asked impatiently.

"I made a promise, and I'd rather die than break it." Steel Wing made it as simple as he could.

The grey mare's wings extended for a moment and snapped back to her body as a look of horror came over her. Her cheeks reddened for a moment.

Snow turned away from the two stallions and said, "We walk then."

"Ma'am?" The Enclave solider said.

"You heard me, now move!" She barked starting off towards the old house.

Both stallions followed her in silence.

----

Twenty minutes later, Steel Wing had been ushered into the basement of a surprisingly well preserved farmhouse. Being primarily made of stone had allowed a good deal of the first floor to stay standing over however many years old it was. A table had been moved downstairs and surgical equipment placed upon it.

Steel Wing was alone for the time being, told to sit in a corner and not move. He'd overheard from upstairs several more moral objections to what the crazy mare was about to do. After the fourth attempt to dissuade her, Snow Storm simply cleared her throat, and that was the end of all protests.

The door swung wide and in walked his sister. Her mane was tied back and she had an almost excited look on her face as she trotted to her equipment table.

The soldier pony stood nervously in the doorway.

"Did you need anything else ma'am?" He asked looking anywhere but directly at her.

"Would you like to assist with the dissection?" She asked with a smile.

"Do I have an option?"

"Yes."

"No thank you then." He backed out of the room.

"Get the door on your way out then." She called after him, as if she wasn't about to murder a pony.

Once the door swung shut she turned to Steel Wing and said, "Would you like to be unconscious for the first incision?"

"Do I have an option?" Steel Wing mimicked the Enclave solider.

"Yes." She chuckled.

"Pass." Steel Wing said, waving a hoof dismissively.

"Oh, brave. I like that in a stallion." She said playfully, grabbing what looked more like a butcher's knife than a piece of surgical equipment. By the rust on it, Steel Wing guessed it'd come from somewhere upstairs.

Standing a few feet in front of him she spit the rusted instrument out and caught it with her foreleg. She pretended to look it over.

"You know I could overpower you and leave right?" Steel Wing stated matter-of-factly.

"You could try, but if you didn't kill me quickly I would paralyze you." She said matching his uncaring tone.

"Is that so?" He said, sitting back slightly. He believed it.

"It is. It is. I-" The grey mare began to shake and hyperventilate. When she looked up at him there were tears in her eyes, and a smile on her face.

"Snow?" Steel Wing asked gently.

"I missed you so much." She whispered, her voice cracking.

The knife dropped, and she closed the last few feet between them before Steel Wing could blink. Her forelegs wrapped firmly around his neck, she began to sob quietly into his coat. Steel Wing was speechless. All he could do was pull her farther into him and hold her while she trembled.

Unconsciously Steel Wing buried his snout in his sisters mane and inhaled deeply. She smelled like rainwater, clean rainwater. It was a smell he'd never appreciated in the same way, but after having been without it for so long it was nearly intoxicating.

"I missed you too. I just-" Steel Wing was quickly reaching the same state as his sister. He began to cry into her mane as he wrapped his wings around her body. If they never moved from that spot, it would be too soon.

"Ma'am, is everything okay?"

"Yes!" Snow Storm cried tearing herself from Steel Wing's shoulder to do so.

"You don't sound alright, you sound like you're- Oh, wow." Whatever the pony on the other side of the door had just "realized" it was enough to get him to stop his questioning.

Steel Wing managed to pull himself away from his sister's delightfully scented mane and spotted the table covered in surgical equipment. He grimaced and asked, "If I had been some other wasteland pegasus, would you have actually killed me?"

"I don't know, maybe." She spoke into his shoulder.

He pushed her away to look her in the eyes, "What happened to you?"

"I don't- What do you mean?" She'd been pulled away from him and forced back into reality, she wasn't entirely with the conversation.

"Snow," Steel Wing said forcefully, "This- That isn't you. What do you mean 'maybe'? My sister would never go out of her way to hurt another pony; I've heard about you and your intentionally crippling Enclave soldiers you don't like."

The accusations made her speechless, mostly due to the fact that they were entirely true.

"I don't know!" She wailed, trying to bury her face in his coat again. He held her in place.

"I don't know either, but it isn't okay."

Steel Wing was having a very hard time denying his sister the comfort of his shoulder, but he had to look her in the eye to see if she still was the Snow Storm he'd known years ago.

"I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me."

"I can't, and I couldn't." Steel Wing finally let her fall back into his embrace, "Three years without me must've damaged you about the same as it did me. Until a week ago I was a recluse who couldn't be bothered to help a pony in need unless it was convenient for me."

"Really?" His sister hiccuped.

"Yeah, really." Steel Wing could still see clearly in his mind the window out of which he'd watched the world pass him by. "I did some things I'm not proud of Snow, bad things to good ponies; I justified it by saying I had a debt to pay, but it wasn't right. I can't be mad at you, because I was the same way. I guess I'd just held out hope that you found someone to keep you happy after I was gone. I couldn't believe that you, the perfect mare, would wind up like me."

"How could I find somepony else to replace you?" She sobbed loudly.

"That's how it was for me too-" Steel Wing was going to say more, but the Enclave soldier from upstairs burst through the door after hearing Snow Storm crying.

Weapons primed he shouted, "Back away from her now or-"

"IF YOU POINT A GUN ANYWHERE NEAR HER AGAIN I'LL SMASH YOUR SKULL IN!" Steel Wing bellowed, the house around them seemed to shake from the volume he produced.

Had the beam rifles not immediately powered down Steel Wing would have made good on his promise. The soldier pony went as far as to back away to the opposite corner of the room, where he cowered in fear.

"Steel Wing?" Snow Storm said in disbelief.

The look in her eyes made his heart sink, "I'm sorry, I just don't want anything to take you away again. Ever." His voice was hoarse at first, but by the time he'd finished speaking his tone was adamant and sure.

"Would one of you mind telling me what's happening right now? I'm honestly confused about the fact you're hugging the pony you were going to dissect." The pony on the other side of the room said just loudly enough to be heard.

"Is he one of Brightcloud's soldiers?" Steel Wing said, eyeing the armored pony suspiciously.

"Yeah. But I don't think he knows who you are." She whispered.

"I think I'll tell him then." Steel Wing said with a dark smile.

Steel Wing switched positions with his sister, leaving her in the corner as he began to cross the room. He stalked towards the Enclave soldier with a revolted look on his face.

Now that the V.I.P was out of the way, the soldier was fairly sure he was allowed to aim his weapons again; he both wanted to and was scared to.

"You're supposed to salute someone who outranks you until you are told otherwise. Or has the idea of respecting one's superiors been tossed out too in my absence?" Steel Wing said stopping just a few feet from the cornered pony.

"I- What?" The cornered pony said, unconsciously saluting Steel Wing.

"You don't recognize me do you? That scumbag Brightcloud doesn't inform the pegasai on his payroll very well does he?"

"You can't talk about Commander Brightcloud like that, he could-"

"If you knew me, you'd know I don't give a flying fuck about what 'he could' do to me. He's done as much damage as he possibly can, and left me alive." Steel Wing smiled wickedly, "Remove your helmet."

"What?!" The scared soldier said, still saluting Steel Wing.

"Take it off, or I'll break it off." Steel Wing said, slamming a hoof into the stone floor; it cracked under the impact.

"Right, coming off!"

Once the helmet was off Steel Wing could more effectively look the soldier in the eyes. He was a light brown stallion with a buzzed, darker brown mane.

"I am the late Colonel Silver Storm, or Steel Wing, depending on what name he gave you; if he gave you one at all that is. That filly- Mare is my sister Snow Storm. I'm sure Brightcloud has told you to keep an eye on her hasn't he?"

"Yeah, but that's because she's our chief medical officer. She doesn't have any formal combat training." The stallion whimpered.

"Is that what he told you?" Steel Wing laughed, "You don't even know half of what you're in right now, do you?"

"Sir if you don't mind me asking," Steel Wing shrugged, "if you're a colonel in the Enclave, doesn't that mean you deserted and ran away to the surface?"

"I'll level with you." Steel Wing said, sitting down and relaxing. "You can stop saluting me now, I was actually joking."

The stallion hadn't even been aware that he was saluting; he gave his hoof a confused look before placing it back on the ground.

"Right." Steel Wing took a moment to decide where to begin, "Brightcloud is a backstabbing son of a bitch who held my sister at gunpoint, tied weights to my legs, put a sack on my head and forced me to leave the Enclave. All for the sake of keeping his position. He told me that if I ever flew again he'd kill my sister. I know he's a man of his word, and I didn't know how well he may or may not have been watching me so I haven't flown in three years. You, and any other pegasus he trusts is watching to make sure my sister doesn't fly off and report him to the council. Now that my sister is here I'm not letting her leave my side ever again. Any quest-" Steel Wing was about to open up the conversation to any questions that the Enclave soldier had, but he was suddenly aware that there was something wandering about upstairs.

Confused he looked down at his foreleg to find out why his Pip-buck wasn't showing any bars and a smile crept across his muzzle. It was gone.

"That's two good things that came from being exploded today." He chuckled. "There's something upstairs, and I'm going to find out what. If you move from this spot, my sister is going to yell 'Steel Wing' and I'll come down her and beat you within an inch of your life. We clear?"

"Crystal, sir." The stallion's voice cracked. He backed as far into the corner as he could, and didn't breath until Steel Wing had exited the room.

"Uh, Steel Wing?" His sister called up the stairs. The stallion in the corner cried out in alarm, dropping to the floor and covering his head with his hooves.

Steel Wing came down the stairs and looked to the corner with the stallion. He narrowed his eyes, "Yeah Snow?"

"How do you know something is upstairs, I don't hear anything."

"Neither do I, but I know it's there. I'll explain later." With that he was back up the stairs.

Steel Wing searched for only a moment, before he came snout to metal casing with a spritebot. He yelped slightly and jumped back.

"Wow, a spritebot that isn't playing horrible music, that's nice." Steel Wing said, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you really still alive?" The spritebot screeched, with a tinny distorted voice.

"Holy hell it talks!" Steel Wing jumped back a little more. "Wait what?"

"You blew up earlier today; half the wasteland probably saw it too. You'd been moving so much I hadn't even gotten the chance to talk to you; then you were gone and I was somewhat disappointed. Imagine my surprise when this spritebot was nearby and heard what sounded like you yelling at the top of your lungs. I move it to investigate and you're actually here. How?"

"No, the question here is 'How the hell is a spritebot talking to me?'"

"I can control them remotely, and can communicate through them. Your turn." The spritebot answered smartly.

"Magic." Replied with just as much smartassness.

"I've spotted you doing magic a few times, but how? You're a pegasus."

"I have access to the power of a being composed primarily of pure magic. She's helped me quite a few times." Steel Wing said, and immediately shook his head. "Sorry, I've started knowing things recently. I think it's getting worse, because I can explain them now."

"Are you possessed or something?" The spritebot questioned skeptically.

"Not yet, no; it's starting to look like that may happen though." Steel Wing shrugged.

"I see." The spritebot said, then fell silent.

"So, do you have a name or should I call you spritebot?"

"My name," The tinny voice said, pausing for dramatic effect, "is Watcher."

"Because you watch things?"

"Correct."

"Ponies and things?"

"Yes?"

"That's a little messed up."

"How so."

"You've probably watched me taking a piss, haven't you?"

"I try to look the other way for that sort of thing, but it may have happened once or twice before."

"Soo..." Steel Wing drawled.

"So?"

"Why did you want to talk to me?"

"Because you've been doing a lot of good recently, and I wanted to meet you."

"Then why didn't you just come say 'hi'?"

"There aren't that many spritebots left in Mexicolt, and you don't stop moving for long enough for one to catch up."

"Then why didn't you just use your legs and meet me in person?" Steel Wing asked skeptically.

"I can't actually do that."

"And you can't tell me why, can you?"

"I can't tell- Yeah, that's right." The tinny distorted voice was still able to convey Watcher's surprise.

"How do I know you aren't another unicorn whose plotting to destroy me? I have a lot of those you know."

"I saw that, the alicorn has been gathering stray unicorns to take back to Maripony."

"What's in Maripony?"

"That's where the alicorns are 'manufactured.'"

"Is that so. I may have to go there some time. I bet the Nightmare would like that." Steel Wing mused.

"You're going to take a bad dream to Maripony? I can guarantee that won't work." Watcher advised.

"Oops, guess my secret is out." Steel Wing laughed lightly, "I meant the Nightmare, the one from the stories and stuff."

"What?" Watcher asked flatly.

"She's the one that's been helping me out as far as magic is concerned. I have a spiritual connection to her that is beyond her comprehension and certainly beyond mine. For the time being, I am able to channel her magic during the night. I am the first pony in centuries to be a compatible vessel for her. Should I ever choose to I will become her host so she may have a physical presence in the wasteland."

Watcher was silent a long time.

"I keep doing that! A few days ago I may have been able to give a half-assed explanation that barely covered any of that; now I'm beginning to comprehend the theories of primal magics."

"This isn't possible. The bearers of the elements of harmony defeated Nightmare Moon. How could she be alive?"

"Simply put, Princess Luna asked the Nightmare for help in taking revenge. Since she hadn't had the opportunity to physically interact with anything in some time, she agreed. The Nightmare wasn't foolish enough to believe she'd have a long time to enjoy her freedom in comparison to her time spent on the moon, and had accepted that Princess Luna would ultimately fail to stay in power. In essence she was forcibly separated from Princess Luna, and had to return to the moon." Steel Wing gritted his teeth once he realized what'd happened.

"Again, I couldn't know that. This is driving me up a wall."

"But Nightmare Moon is evil, isn't she?"

"She isn't that bad. I attempted to kill her once, but I stopped half way through when I realized I was actually beating an alicorn in a hooffight. Mainly because she wasn't fighting back."

"Look, will you promise to stay in one place for a while; we need to finish this conversation, but I have to go."

"If I can get back to Skyfall, you'll find me there. Or at the academy maybe."

"Okay great." Watcher said, silence followed shortly after.

"Wait!" Steel Wing shouted, a question had just popped into his head. "What happened to the weapons!?"

The spritebot remained silent. Steel Wing took it in his hooves and began to shake it violently. A burst of static came from the spritebot's speakers and it began to play the familiar march. Steel Wing hadn't ever hated the song as much as he did in that moment. He put his hooves on top of it, and forced the floating metal ball to the ground, crushing it underhoof. The only retaliation was a small zap as the spritebot's power source discharged. Bits of shrapnel also went flying in every direction; they barely stung Steel Wing.

"Is everything alright up there?" Snow Storm shouted from below.

"Yep, it was just a spritebot."

Whoops, he said there weren't many of those, didn't he? Steel Wing shrugged, and headed back downstairs.

Back in the basement Steel Wing was surprised to see that the Enclave soldier hadn't moved, but his sister had. The surgical equipment was presumably packed away, and she'd gone to talk to the very confused soldier pony.

"He believes." Snow Storm said, as her brother approached.

"Believes what?" Steel Wing raised an eyebrow.

"That Brightcloud is a traitorous pile of scum." She hissed.

"Oh great! Now I don't have to bind him and take him with us." Steel Wing smiled.

"You're both scary." The stallion mumbled.

"We are twins." Steel Wing said as though the dictionary definition of the word "twins" mentioned he and his sister as an example.

"Okay, good to know." The armored stallion said nervously, "If you aren't going to tie me up, what is going to happen to me?"

"I'm not sending my sister back so she can pretend everything is business as usual. Brightcloud would probably have you cleaning toilets if you came back and said you'd lost Snow." Steel Wing rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess that means you're with us!" He concluded.

"So you aren't going to tie me up and drag me with you against my will, but I'm stuck following you whether I like it or not?"

"Yes, that sounds right. Snow, doesn't that sound right?" Steel Wing said, grinning from ear to ear.

"It does, doesn't it!" She said, matching his fake enthusiasm.

To hide how uncomfortable he was the armored pegasus put his helmet back on. "When do we leave?"

An idea came to Steel Wing, and his fake enthusiasm turned to devious glee, "Soon, but I need you to do something first."

----

An hour later the three pegasai were leaving the farm, heading towards Skyfall. They had to use the navigation of the Enclave power armor, as it was the only Stable-tec device between the three capable of navigation. Snow Storm had a Pip-buc, but all programs non-medical functions had, upon her request, been disabled.

A distress signal had been sent from the power armor, to get the attention of the Enclave. After which, the suit's location tags had been switched off.

Steel Wing was almost dancing as they left the farm. He'd had the idea to leave a message for whomever arrived first to the power armor's last known location. It read "I have her now Brightcloud, that means you're next. Sincerely COL SS"

He'd borrowed a blood bag from his sister to write it. She'd been too excited about the fact she'd been reunited with her brother to care about the waste of medical supplies.

"Should I lead?" Private Skies, the armored stallion, offered.

"May as well, you're the only one who knows where we're headed." Steel Wing shrugged.

"Sounds good to me." Skies said, before taking off.

"I really hope this isn't a dream." Snow Storm said wearily, before following Private skies into the air.

Steel Wing looked up at them as they hovered in wait for him.

"It's okay to fly now I'm here and safe." Snow Storm said sweetly.

"Idnmo tfly." Steel Wing mumbled.

"What?" His sister came closer.

"Dunnotfly." He said again, ducking his head lower.

"What's wrong." She said flying close enough to touch his shoulder.

"I don't know how." He confessed his shame.

"To fly?" She finished in disbelief.

"I don't know if I can anymore." He sighed heavily.

"Sure you can," She tried to comfort, "It isn't the kind of skill you can lose from under use."

He smiled in appreciation of her encouraging words.

"I think I'm scared." Steel Wing admitted, as his wings unfolded.

"You'll be oka- wuh~?" Snow Storm's eyes widened in amazement, when she saw her brother's wings in their full glory. Their glossy undersides somewhat mesmerizing. "You've grown since the last time I've seen you, how is that even possible?"

The sheen on the underside was enough to show her reflection, albeit fairly distorted.

"Yeah, you have to work to live down here. I'm not that much bigger though, am I?" Steel Wing said while stretching.

"Yeah." Was her response, too captivated by the magnificent sight before her to properly answer his question.

"Are they that impressive?"

"Yeah, you are." She said dreamily.

Steel Wing shrugged and dragged his left wing across the ground, leaving a long cut behind.

"What is that!?" His sister was jostled out of her dreamy state, by the display.

"They're sharp." Steel Wing said smartly.

"I see that, how?!" She demanded, "It's physically impossible for feathers to cut like that. I mean when you were wearing your armor sure I could understand that, but this- Those are real aren't they? You didn't lose your real wings in an accident or something did you?"

Snow Storm continued to ramble until Steel Wing put a hoof to her lips, "Magic."

She nodded slowly to show that she both understood, and had calmed down.

"I'll explain later, let's just get going before we're spotted for now. Okay?" Steel Wing said, taking several steps back.

"Okay." She said, and took off again.

Steel Wing began to do a mental checklist of all the things needed for flying, Wings out. Eyes front. Knees bent. Ponies watching. Heart racing?

He jumped up into the air several feet and with a powerful beat of his wings went shooting up into the air; at the same time doing somersaults as he lost control.

He fell back to the ground with an audible thud. He was hurting. Not from the fall of course, he'd fallen farther before; his pride had been damaged by his failure, in front of his sister no less. He took minor comfort in the fact that he could now say "I told you so." to his sister about his inability to fly.

Steel Wing got up with a heavy sigh, his wings folded back to his sides.

"You're aren't giving up after one try are you?" His sister scolded flying closer.

"I was thinking about it." He mumbled.

"Now that isn't the brother I remember. The Silver Storm I remember didn't stop until something changed, or until he was unconscious. I'd be willing to bet you haven't grown out of that yet. Now get ready and try again." Their separation hadn't caused her to forget what the next step in a trial and error situation was with her brother. If kind words didn't work, orders would.

Steel Wing was ready for another attempt the moment she stopped speaking.

He went back through the mental checklist again, and tried another takeoff. This time he did one somersault before balancing out. It took a couple seconds of falling before he remembered to keep flapping his wings. He couldn't hover, but he could stay in the air.

"I did it!" Steel Wing said, much the same way he had during flight training.

"You did!" His sister rushed up to him and hugged him, planting a kiss on his cheek before letting him go.

Clear Skies watched as the two locked eyes for a moment, before both leaned in and locked lips with each other. It wasn't the sort of soft peck shared by a father and his child; it certainly wasn't the sort of kiss a brother and sister would ever share. This was a kiss of passionate hunger and longing. The only thing that stopped it was the fact that they'd began to quickly lose altitude.

"Did you two just start making out?" Private Skies couldn't help but ask.

Once they were stable in the air, the reminder that they weren't alone caused them both to blush.

"So?" Steel Wing asked as if nothing was wrong.

"Isn't she your sister?"

"Is that a problem?" Snow Storm cut in threateningly.

"Uh..." Private Skies intoned clearing his throat awkwardly.

"The answer is 'No ma'am." Steel Wing whispered loudly.

"No ma'am?" Skies tried.

"That's good to hear." She said with a half smile.

A look passed between them that said there would be time later.

"So where are we going?" Steel Wing said to break the silence.

Instead of saying anymore, the uneasy stallion simply started off in the direction they were headed. Steel Wing and his sister followed; though Steel Wing had a significantly slower start he began to catch up to their speed. Once he'd matched their speed Steel Wing began to pull ahead of his guide; it wasn't any sort of challenge, he simply couldn't maintain a stable flight speed. Now that he knew where he was going he didn't mind as much.

For her part, Snow Storm was just happy to watch her brother enjoying life for the moment. The way he talked made it sound as though it were a very rare occurrence in his life; not that her life had been sunshine and rainbows since their separation, but the past was quickly being forgotten with her brother back in her life. As she continued to watch him pull ahead a smile crept across her muzzle; she couldn't help but laugh when he began to fly circles around her and their armored companion.

Steel Wing was beginning to fly by instinct again. Instead of making them keep up, now that he'd pulled ahead, Steel Wing was doing aerial acrobatics. At one point he did a one-eighty and flew back they way they'd come from; only to speed back past them just to see how quickly he could catch back up. Nothing about flying disoriented him like wearing a Pip-buck had; he silently swore to himself that he'd never put one on his foreleg as long as he lived.

----

They'd flown uninterrupted for a little over an hour. Steel Wing with his boundless energy had managed to set a slightly faster pace than he'd meant to. While power armor helped with flight in Private Skies, Snow Storm had no such advantage.

"Are you-" Steel Wing began circling his sister, when he came back around he said, "Okay?"

"Just a little tired is all." She smiled weakly.

Steel Wing came back around to her left, "What? Sorry I-" He passed behind her again. "Was back there, didn't hear."

"I said 'Just a little tired is all.'" She shouted.

"What?" Steel Wing yelled back.

"I said-" Snow Storm began again until she saw the wide grin plastered on her brother's face. "Hah hah, very funny." She grumbled.

"What? For real-" Steel Wing said continuing to circle. "this time I didn't hear."

"Carry me!" She shouted before he could pass around behind her again.

"Roger!" Steel Wing said before flying off behind her.

Steel Wing put on more speed with several powerful flaps of his wings as he came up behind his sister. Passing over her he wrapped his forelegs around her midsection. Snow Storm screamed in surprise as she was suddenly jerked through the air. She folded her wings in and allowed herself to be taken along.

Steel Wing could feel her staccatoed breathing where he was holding her. She was either laughing or crying; he could understand both at this point. The only thing that was keeping tears away was the fact that he could once again fly, and was having too much fun to be bothered with tears.

With the added weight Steel Wing was going at a more reasonable speed; now he flew side by side with Private Skies.

"Is that the place up there?" Skies asked pointing at what looked like a skywagon scrapyard.

"Sure is! Nice place isn't it?"

"It's called Skyfall because-"

"Because a good number of passenger wagons were simply abandoned there once Cloudsdale was hit, and the pegasai pulling them wanted to get the hell out of dodge. It was something of a countrywide flying transport strike." Steel Wing smiled after speaking, somewhat content that he knew where that information had come from. Corona had explained it during the long walk to Armory.

"See you down there." Steel Wing called before dropping away, beginning a not so gradual decent towards the town.

It was during this fall that he realized he'd unconsciously gathered his sister up into a ball, and was now cradling her in his forelegs. She'd fallen asleep in his embrace, trusting in her loving brother to get her wherever he decided they should go safely. Steel Wing could sense this in a way he hadn't been able to for three years. He no longer had an accurate mental map of his everything that was his sister, but the innate understanding her feelings was already coming back to him.

He forced himself to look away since the ground was quickly approaching. He the spot he wanted to land, right in front the Town Hall, next to Corona's office.

---

Corona sat in her room, holding her adopted foal tight to her chest. She'd sat there for an entire day, having put her second in command in charge of finding the freed slaves places to sleep for the night. She'd been despondent since Steel Wing's demise, and hadn't let Lily go except for meals and a bathroom break.

The stale smell of urine hung in the air; While Corona had been gone she'd had an accident on her mother's bed. The foal had desperately tried to cover it up by pushing out the window, the impracticality of such a task hadn't occurred to the frightened foal until it was too late. The mattress had been sticking half way out the window for the past two days, filling the room with the smell of pee.

Lily was in tears when Corona returned, and pushed her way into the poorly barricaded door. Corona had dropped her power armor by the door and scooped her her crying foal. Lily hadn't been in the mood to question her mother's actions, and was just glad for the instant forgiveness she'd been granted. In truth Corona could barely register the smell, or comprehend the fact that it would never be washed from her mattress. She'd let herself make a friend, he'd been killed, and she was crushed the way she'd always feared; having friends was far too much of a risk in the wasteland. Corona had realized this years ago; Steel Wing was the first anything she'd ever felt close to, and now there was a hole in her life that was painful to leave open. She didn't know where or how she was going to fill that hole, but she'd have to or learn to live with the pain. Everything was terrible.

With a heavy sigh Corona got up to put a sleeping Lily to bed. This was the first time she'd actually seen the state of her mattress. Without a second thought she tore it in half with her talons, and placed her foal on the bottom half. Just as she pushed the top half out of the window something huge with wings dropped from the sky, using it's wings at the very last second to stop from hitting the ground. The thing kicked up a large amount of dust by doing so. Dust flooded in through the open window.

With another sigh Corona retrieved her new beam rifle and tossed it lazily out the window before crawling out herself. Whatever it was looked vaguely like an alicorn, and it was her job to deal with that sort of thing.

As the dust settled Corona propped herself against the building; her arm still being somewhat broken made it hard to aim a rifle well. She waited for the dust to settle so she could get a clean shot.

A stallion from inside the dust cloud said, "Sorry, I didn't even think about it."

He spoke between hacking coughs. Corona was sure she heard a female coughing as well.

Great, purple wings stuck part way out of the dust cloud, and with a powerful flap diffused the cloud.

Corona stared in disbelief as an over sized pegasus stallion, and a grey mare with a stark white mane looked casually around the town. The mare was easily recognizable from the dream she'd appeared in; the stallion was instantly recognizable for his size, and the way he looked over everything with a soft and evaluating concern.

"But you blew up." Corona complained, catching the purple Steel Wing's attention.

"Corona!" Steel Wing said happily. He spotted the half mattress on the ground. "It's good to see you again. Quick question: What happened to your mattress."

"Fuck you, I saw you die!" Corona leveled the rifle at him. Her aim was shaky at best mostly due to the fact that she was somewhere between being curious and crying.

"But I'm not, aren't you happy?"

"That isn't how it works. You don't just leave someone like that and come back pretending nothing happened." She complained slowly losing her grip on the trigger.

"I don't understand." Steel Wing said softly.

"I don't either!" Corona yelled, "I don't know why it hurts, it just does. I don't want it to hurt."

Steel Wing never would have imagined Corona being so sensitive emotionally. He suspected she'd gotten somewhat attached to him, but not to the point that his loss would affect her so.

"Mommy?" A small voice came from Corona's right.

A good deal of the town was out now to see what the cause of the shouting was. Now, all eyes were on the black foal slowly walking towards Corona.

"Is this why you've been so quiet all day?" She asked, leaning herself against Corona's leg.

"Yeah, it is kiddo."

"Corona, I understand how bad it hurts to think you've lost someone you care about. Take it from me, you don't want to spend more than a couple hours of your life remembering that you'll never see them again. You have to remember the good times you shared or you start coming up with ways that you should have been able to prevent it. I spent two years of my life doing just that, and I don't think I'll ever recover from it."

"I could have though!" Corona continued to yell, tears beginning to roll down her face.

"What? No there wasn't anything you could have done, don't say that."

"I had a shot, I could have taken it. I could have distracted them and-"

"And what?" Steel Wing interrupted, "And gotten yourself killed? Where would that have left me, or the ponies you gave a new home to, or Skyfall, or even Lily?" Steel Wing was nearly matching her volume.

"I don't know." Corona said once more, dropping the rifle. "It would have hurt less if I'd died instead of you, I wouldn't have to live with that sort of pain.

"Coward." Steel Wing stated simply

"What?"

"That's called being a coward. I know you aren't a coward, so what's the deal?"

"That's not being a coward." Corona hissed, pushing away from the wall and standing up straight.

"Not wanting to do something or taking the easy way out because it might hurt to go through it. I call that being a coward." Steel Wing said in an even tone.

With a growl, Corona swiped at Steel Wing's face with her talons. Steel Wing didn't budge, and caught the full force of her razor sharp digits.

It stung, but Steel Wing gave no such indication.

"Why didn't you dodge!?" Corona demanded angrily.

"To show you that I am still alive." He nodded towards her hand.

She looked and saw the blood, his very real blood; more of which was pouring down his face.

"You're an ass, what if I'd killed you?"

"I couldn't be held responsible. But my sister probably would have hacked you to pieces with a rusty cleaver." Steel Wing said with a smirk.

"I-Is that her?" Corona said, wanting desperately to change the subject to something that didn't hurt.

"Yeah, that's my Snow." Steel Wing said, standing to the side to reveal his sister.

"You cut my brother." Snow Storm said softly.

"Yeah, sorry." Corona wiped her talons on her leg before scooping up Lily.

Snow Storm was silent a long moment, seemingly contemplating something very deeply. Steel Wing swatted her flank with his wing while looking off in another direction. His sister yelped in surprise and turned a threatening glare at the back of his head.

"Something wrong?" Steel Wing said innocently.

"Doesn't your face hurt?" She said, taking a closer look at the slash along his cheek. Steel Wing could tell she intended to pay him back later.

"No," He lied, "a lot of things don't anymore. I should probably take a sip from a healing potion or something." Steel Wing said plainly.

"I think I have one." Corona offered, trying to put Lily down so she could crawl back through the window. Instead Lily leapt from her mother's arms through the window; she knew where the potions were.

Corona couldn't help but smile when the sounds of rummaging came from the open window. Lily found what she was looking for quickly and put the potion on the windowsill. Climbing while carrying the vial proved too much of a challenge for the little pony.

"Thanks kiddo, now get back to bed." Corona reached into the room to pat Lily on the head.

Lily did as she was told without complaint; her adopted mother was feeling better, and she wasn't in trouble for wetting the bed.

Just before Steel Wing could drink from the potion his sister yelled. "Don't drink that, it could be poisoned!"

Steel Wing almost dropped the bottle in he was holding, "What? No it isn't."

"Did you make it yourself?" She asked skeptically.

"No?"

"Then how can you be sure?"

"Wow." Both Steel Wing and Corona said in unison.

"What?" Snow Storm said defensively, "It happened to a few scouts after clearing out a raider nest. They poisoned all the healing potions they left behind. I'd be willing to bet those potions have been looted from somewhere."

"Yeah, and you could say that about everything else in the wasteland besides maybe the air." Steel Wing said before putting the potion to his lips.

After a few seconds Steel Wing began to cough and sputter violently, falling over dramatically. His sister kicked him in the ribs after she rushed to his side to find him laughing at her expense.

"Don't ever scare me like that!" She cried. Steel Wing realized he'd messed up instantly.

"I'm sorry, I should have known better." Steel Wing bolted upright and pulled his sister in close.

While Steel Wing comforted her, he saw Corona out of the corner of his eye laughing at his mistake.

"Okay folks nothing else to see here. Go do whatever the hell it is you were doing!" Corona shouted to the gathered crowd.

"I wasn't thinking, I promise you I won't do it again." Steel Wing whispered.

Snow Storm calmed down enough to respond, "I know, and I probably should've seen it coming. I'm glad to see that you still make jokes at bad times; it's one of those things I love about you so much. I hate it when it happens, but I love to laugh about it later. I'm just scared is all; of all the times for you to die, it would be right after I have you back."

"I know the feeling." He rubbed her back in slow circles for a while longer. When her breathing returned to normal, Steel Wing let her go.

"I bet you're tired." Steel Wing said after Snow Storm yawned widely.

"Mmhm." She intoned quietly.

"I think I still have a room paid for at the inn." He said, nudging her in the right direction.

"Uh sir, where should I stay?" Private Skies said, bringing Steel Wing's attention to the fact that he'd been standing there for a while.

"Guard's station!" Corona called out of her window loudly. "Sorry Lily, go back to bed."

"Running out of places to stash ponies, are we?" Steel Wing shouted.

"You know it!" Corona said, obviously completely happy with that fact.

"Follow me." A tired looking Sweet Spot said.

"Yes ma'am." Skies said nervously.

"We'll talk in the morning." Steel Wing called after the out of place Enclave soldier.

Steel Wing quickly ushered his tired sister to the town's only inn; stopping for a moment to confirm that he still had the room in the back.

"It isn't much, but it does have it's own bathroom crazily enough." Steel Wing said as the door swung open.

"This room is occupied." A mare groaned from somewhere in the room.

"Wow I feel like an ass." Steel Wing laughed, "Autumn Heart, I'm not dead!"

"What!?" Autumn Heart shouted, followed by several loud thumps as she fell out of bed. She charged the door and tackled a very unprepared Steel Wing back into the hall.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help." The green mare said, pulling back to let Steel Wing breath.

"Yeah there wasn't much you could do anyways." He paused for a moment to rub his chest, she'd bruised something. "No offense or anything, but you have a bit of weight to throw around."

Autumn Heart didn't let the comment about her weight dampen her mood any, "You aren't the first to say that, but really how are you alive?"

"I plan to find out if I ever hear from the Nightmare again." Steel Wing laughed quietly.

Snow Storm cleared her throat.

"Is that her?" Autumn Heart asked, once she noticed the third pony. "Grey coat, white mane, dark orange eyes; it really is her."

"She sure is." Steel Wing said just as proudly as before.

"She's beautiful." Autumn Heart marveled.

"Thank you." Snow Storm blushed lightly.

"By the way Snow, she knows about us. So does Corona while I'm at it."

"About you, what?" Autumn Heart asked slowly.

Steel Wing raised a skeptical eyebrow, she couldn't have forgotten so easily.

"Oh right, about your relationship." Autumn Heart nodded in understanding, "I hold nothing against you for it, just so you know. It may be a little unusual, but I don't think a love like yours would be out of place no matter where it was."

"Thank you." Snow said again, letting out a silent yawn.

"I get that you're happy to see me, and believe me I'm happy to see you too, but she just flew some number of miles, without magical or technological assistance; she needs some sleep." Steel Wing said as politely as he could manage.

"Go ahead." Autumn Heart said, stepping to the side.

"Which bed is ours." Snow Storm said just as soon as she put a hoof through the door.

"Big one, dead ahead." Steel Wing said quickly.

Head hanging towards the floor as she began to nod off, Snow Storm quietly climbed into the bed and promptly passed out from the physical and emotional exhaustion she felt.

"I'm glad to see you again." Autumn Heart whispered after Snow settled down.

"That's more than I could say about Corona. She tried to cut my face off." Steel Wing chuckled at the memory.

"She did?" Autumn Heart gasped, "I knew she was hurting, but I didn't know she was in a violent mood too."

"She rarely needs an excuse to be violent anyways, what would make you think she wouldn't get mean when she's upset?"

"Well I could expect her to be crying, maybe wanting to be alone, I just can't imagine her hurting someone over the pain of loss."

"Yeah well-" Steel Wing had more to say, but his sister's grumbled complaint cut him off. The light coming in from the hall as well as their voices was keeping her up; were she not so exhausted she would feel ashamed to be acting like a foal, the state she was in enabled her to not care at all.

"Talk in the morning?" Steel Wing said quietly.

Autumn Heart nodded and closed the door. Both went to their respective beds.

The moment Steel Wing crawled into his bed his sister jumped, suddenly wide awake. She rolled over and kicked against his chest. She succeeded in pushing herself off the bed her brother's massive bulk being far too much for her to move.

"I said no!" She yelled, sitting up and glaring into the darkness.

"Snow?" Steel Wing whispered worriedly.

"I thought you were-" Snow Storm took several deep breaths.

"Who?"

"Somepony else." She said, before crawling back into bed.

Were he not so worried, Steel Wing would have laughed at her use of "somepony." The Enclave still didn't truly recognize the existence of things other than pegasai ponies. He'd make a comment about it later.

"No really Snow, who?" He persisted, whispering now that she was next to him again.

She rolled over and kissed him tenderly, "I don't want to think about it right now."

"I feel like if I'm laying next to you it's all you're going to think about for the rest of the night; it is what set you off in the first place." Steel Wing foolishly continued.

"You really want to know?" His sister nearly hissed.

"Only because I'm worried about you."

"One of the ponies watching me tried to rape me." She said coldly.

Steel Wing could suddenly see himself, a look of utter disbelief on his face. He watched as his wings unfolded, tearing large holes in the bed. He got out of bed, and left the room.

"Silver?" Snow called through the open door; there was no answer. Steel Wing was already charging out the front door of the inn.

----

Steel Wing had gone as far as the outer wall of town, he'd passed several guards as well as the newest of the town's population who were unable to sleep. To any he passed he said nothing.

"If it isn't the returning hero." Sweet Spot said, coming to join Steel Wing on top of the wall. "What has you looking so pissed and thoughtful?"

"Some stallion tried to rape my sister." He said darkly.

Sweet Spot didn't say anything.

"I'm trying to decide if I shouldn't just go track down Brightcloud right now and kill him."

"I don't know how things work in the Enclave, but I know how they work in Mexicolt; the rest of the wasteland too I suppose." She paused thoughtfully, "You know just as well as I do that, going out by yourself to take some revenge is not going to work out for you at all."

"Thanks, I do sort of need someone to talk me out of this. It's still pretty tempting though."

"Want a drink?" She offered, Steel Wing just shrugged, "You!" Sweet Spot shouted to a passing guard below, "Coffee from the barracks, two cups. One needs an assload of sugar."

The guard did as he was told without a question. One of the most important rule of being a night guard, If the lieutenant wants coffee, she gets coffee.

"You'd have about as much luck holding a gun to your head, and hoping you'll also hit whoever you hate most when you pull the trigger."

"Hmph." Steel Wing grunted, "It could work." He said rubbing his chin in thought.

"Yeah, to be honest I saw a pony do that once. Thing is, he did it once, then the guy he hated the second most got a good laugh and walked away unharmed."

"I think the point you're trying to make is that I should pick my battles; the problem is this battle picked me a long time ago, and I haven't been able to do anything but take it for three years."

"I'm not saying don't go kill the son of a bitch, I'm saying don't do it right now; as in not tonight, or tomorrow probably." She smirked, "I'm not going to sit her and give you a speech about how revenge leaves a permanent stain on your soul, and that you should leave the past in the past; just give it a little more time. Maybe you could spend a couple days with your sister before you get yourself killed, no what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Crap," Sweet Spot said, sniffing at the air, "you could have taken a little longer to get the message; what was the point of me getting coffee if we aren't going to take the time to drink it?"

"What're you talking about?" Steel Wing said, copying her actions, "How can you smell coffee?"

"How can you not?" She retorted, "It even smells like Captain Griff's stash. I hope he didn't actually break into it."

"I hate that name." Corona said, landing between them and holding two cups of coffee.

"Sorry captain." Sweet Spot giggled, accepting the cup from Corona.

"Do you actually want this?" Corona asked, offering the other cup to Steel Wing. "It is really strong stuff; I know how much trouble you have getting to sleep already."

Steel Wing took the cup without comment.

"So what are you doing up and about anyways? I figured you'd be with your sister and- Stuff." Corona began to mumble towards the end realizing Sweet Spot wasn't "in the know" about Steel Wing's relationship with his sister.

"I could ask you the same thing, you seemed pretty out of it an hour ago."

"I don't exactly have a bed, and my room smells like piss; because somebody wasn't watching my kid like I told them to." Corona said turning towards her second in command.

"Well ma'am a couple days after you left, she locked the door and wouldn't open it for anything. I threatened to break it down and she said, she'd set up explosives all around the door. I remembered you having quite a bit of equipment in your room so I thought she might be telling the truth."

"Well she was bluffing." Corona finished the story.

"I couldn't know that for sure, and I didn't want to take the risk of destroying that door; I know how much you like it." Sweet Spot tried to save herself.

"Fair enough, I'll have a talk with her tomorrow." She yawned audibly, "Now what were you about to do?"

"Kill Brightcloud." Steel Wing said, sensing it was his turn to speak.

"Had you come up with any ideas?"

"Not a one."

"Sounds like you alright." Corona teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You charged a group of Steel Rangers before even thinking about the consequences. Need I say more?"

"Okay, you got me this time." Steel Wing laughed.

"I'm going to go make a few rounds." A now thoroughly caffeinated Sweet Spot said, bowing out of a conversation she was no longer needed in.

"Did she just chug a cup of coffee?" Steel Wing asked.

"Have at it turbo." Corona said dismissively. "When she gets coffee she goes nuts if she tries to stand still. She can run on one cup for half a day though, it's sort of fun to watch."

"You don't say." Steel Wing said as he watched Sweet Spot trot in place.

"So what made you decide that Brightcloud needed to die tonight?"

"My sister freaked out when I crawled into bed; apparently she thought I was some stallion trying to make a move on her."

"You mean you weren't?" Corona elbowed him suggestively.

"I hadn't even thought of that." Steel Wing admitted.

"Wow, really?" Corona couldn't help but laugh, "You spend three years of your life thinking about how amazing your sister was in bed, and as soon as you get into bed you forget?"

Steel Wing nodded in grudging agreement.

"Sad, on many levels." Corona concluded.

"Yup."

"You know what you need to do then."

"Not even a little." Steel Wing shook is head slowly.

"Get back in there and show her how safe she is with you in the bed." Corona said as if it was the natural thing to do.

"For one thing she's exhausted, the second thing is- Well..." Steel Wing looked up and away awkwardly.

"You don't know if you can still satisfy her?"

"How did you- Wait wait wait, you didn't know at all did you?"

"No clue whatsoever." She grinned.

"Well yeah, that is the second thing at any rate. She probably has these memories of how amazing I was, but I doubt I am anymore; I don't want to let her down like that."

"Please," Corona put an arm around him, "If you can make her smile like you made that filly at the academy, you're more than fine."

"It was her first time, of course she enjoyed it."

"Well jeeze, don't feel better then." Corona withdrew her arm.

"I think I should, I just don't know when or how I should try."

"Sleep on it, or you could try the direct approach and sleep with her." Corona said taking to the air.

"For the record," Steel Wing said warningly, "now that I have my sister back, you aren't safe in the air if you piss me off."

"Oh hell you flew here didn't you?"

Steel Wing grinned in confirmation.

"I'm happy for you, you purple bastard; which by the way, what happened to your coat?"

"Every time I lose a body part it comes back the same color as my mane. I think I lost my whole body so now I'm purple all over."

"Is your thing purple too?" She snickered.

Steel Wing grimaced at the thought, "I don't actually know."

"Wanna find out?" Corona said, hovering closer.

"Nope." Steel Wing said, leaping off the wall and with a powerful flap of his wings taking off into the night.

"Where the hell are you going?" Corona said chasing after him. "Didn't you get talked out of going on a suicide mission?"

"I just feel like flying, so I'm going to fly."

"Mind if I come with, I doubt I'm getting sleep tonight."

Steel Wing responded by turning away from Corona with a smirk that said "Try and keep up."

Steel Wing was slowly learning to control his speed, but didn't bother after challenging the equally competitive griffon to a race. So they spent the night, weaving between buildings and trying to outdo the other's aerial stunts. The stunts portion went mostly to Corona, as Steel Wing was still fairly clumsy. Steel Wing won every race with his powerful wingbeats.

By dawn Corona was trying desperately to catch her breath atop the town hall; Steel Wing felt exhausted for the first time in a long time, his magically enhanced stamina wasn't as limitless as he'd thought.

"No-" Corona said, panting heavily, "Fair, all your legs aren't broken. I have a busted arm."

"You think I woke anyone up when I slammed into that building?" Steel Wing said, ignoring her complaint.

"Probably." Corona smiled weakly.

"Whoops."

"Yeah-" Corona took a deep breath, 'Whoops."

"Where are you going to sleep then?" Steel Wing said, noticing the early morning sun.

"Are you fucking kidding?" Steel Wing gave her a blank look. "Here or the back of Loot's Loot." Corona muttered, "Amazingly enough, they still have a few mattresses left over; even after we set up beds for all the slaves."

"Ex-slaves." Steel Wing corrected.

"Right."

Steel Wing's eyes went wide, "Oh shit, was Loot there!?"

"Where?" Corona tried too raise her head to look at him.

"Loot, the mare that owned the store; I promised her children I'd bring her back." Steel Wing's head was spinning, he'd forgotten.

"Maybe." Corona held up an arm, "If you're going there, take me with you." She turned her head to see that Steel Wing was already gone.

----

Steel Wing landed with a dull thud in front of Skyfall's general store; scaring a passing guard. It was closed, which Steel Wing was grateful for; he couldn't bring himself to walk inside just yet anyways. He'd forgotten a promise; and unless, by some miracle the twin's mother had been with the group of escaped slaves, he wasn't sure he could bring himself to face them in failure. He cursed his cowardice as he turned away and headed back towards the inn.

----

Steel Wing saw the gouge he'd cut in the bed; he was going to have to pay for that. He also saw his the rising and falling of his sister's chest under the blankets. There was a lump in the near the right edge of the bed, which made Steel Wing suspect she was curled up in a little ball. She never took up much space in bed; it was just one of the many things he loved about her.

Carefully he climbed back into the bed, forgoing trying to get under the blankets. Snow Storm awoke the moment he settled down.

"Snow, it's just me." He said carefully.

"I know, I wanted to say I'm sorry." She said from under the blanket.

"For what? I just woke you up."

"For last night, I wasn't thinking straight; I'm probably still fairly well out of it, but I shouldn't have kicked you out of bed like that. I certainly shouldn't have yelled at you."

"You don't ever have to apologize to me; you know I forgave you the next second. I just needed to be someplace else to think."

"I missed you the moment you were gone." She said sourly, "For the first time in years I could have had somepony to hold me while I was scared, and I made him go away."

Steel Wing lifted the covers off his sister and pulled her towards him. "Like this?" He said, nuzzling her cheek lovingly.

"Exactly like this." She murmured, snuggling as close as she possibly could.

Steel Wing waited patiently while his sister drifted off back to sleep. He listened for the once familiar sound of her humming with every exhale. He loved to watch her sleep; he loved that he could once again. Everything about this moment was perfect, and he'd be launch himself into the sun before he let the universe ruin this peace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steel Wing stood before the Nightmare, who was sitting in a trance-like state staring off into space.

"Ahem." Steel Wing cleared his throat.

"Yes?" She said distantly.

"You wanted me?"

"Steel Wing?"

"Yes, that's me." Steel Wing said flatly.

Her eyes lost their glassed over quality and she looked directly at him.

"I did not call you here." She stated plainly.

"Then why am I here?"

"Perhaps you have something you wish to ask me?"

"Yeah I guess I have a couple questions."

"Please, ask."

"Why am I still alive?"

"Yes, that is a very good question." She paused thoughtfully and smiled, "I created something of a backup for your body, and grew a soul stone in your chest. This was all in case your body was destroyed, which it was."

"Were you ever going to tell me about this?" Steel Wing narrowed his eyes.

"I hadn't planned to, no." She admitted with a guilty look, "Even with my planning ahead, I never would have imagined you would try to contain so much arcane energy; the soul stone nearly shattered from the magical force applied to it. I had to actively hold it together."

"Have you made other plans for any more of my eventual untimely deaths?" Steel Wing asked dryly.

"I may have, yes."

"That's next on my list; second question, why haven't I heard from you recently?"

"I have been busy trying to come up with a way to answer another of your questions."

"Which was?"

"About the broken unicorn."

"Flash Fire." Steel Wing mouthed, having nearly forgotten the filly altogether. "What do you mean, 'come up with a way to answer.' Is there a way, or not?"

The Nightmare bit her lip and looked away. The answer was obviously yes, and Steel Wing could tell she was going to hate saying it as much as he was hearing it.

"It is possible to restore magical talent outright, but with considerable damage on to the one performing the mending. Perhaps it was selfish of me, but I didn't want to tell you for fear of you being determined to go through with it regardless of your safety."

"It was fairly selfish, but I can forgive that; tell me what I have to do."

"It requires the performance of a ritual at night, where one's soul is split in two. Half of the soul must be given to the damaged participant."

"Didn't you do that already?"

"Yes and no, I took a bit of your soul to create a house for the rest of it. Inside this 'soul housing' your soul was able to repair the piece I took off initially."

"That was risky and you know it, shaving away bits of ones soul can cause the rest to wither." Steel Wing scolded.

"Yes-" The Nightmare said slowly, "That is a possibility. How did you know it was a possibility?"

"I don't know!" He accidentally shouted, throwing his hooves up, "I was hoping you did."

"I might. My influence may still be leaking into you. Not on purpose I assure you, after what you said I tried my best to stop it. I suppose after the night you assumed the form of an alicorn, I may have imparted some of my knowledge to you as well."

"Well at least I know now. Actually knowing things is driving me crazy."

"I apologize if it's been bothering you, I of course didn't mean to."

"I was joking, it isn't that big of a deal; especially now that I know where the information is coming from." He sighed heavily, "Now about this ritual."

"Since you have some understanding of the function of souls, you may or may not also know that removing half of one's soul is far beyond 'shaving' some of it away. It would require that the container for the soul be broken before you could even separate it in half; this means that there would be no buffer before the cutting began."

"So half my soul gone that means-" Steel Wing's expression turned dark, "That means that there wouldn't be enough left to safely make a new soul gem, which means I wouldn't ever really recover, which means what's left of my soul would probably wither into nothing."

"It would likely kill you even if done right, yes." The Nightmare said in a subdued voice.

"There is another way though, isn't there?" Steel Wing rubbed his temples.

"There are wandering souls that could be used in substitute of yours."

"That isn't okay." Steel Wing dismissed the idea.

"There is a third option, that may work well for the both of us."

"Oh well, third options are nice too." Steel Wing smiled weakly.

"This ritual could easily coincide with another that would allow me to leave this place and move into your body." The Nightmare said sheepishly.

"You're giving me that look because you know, as much as I might still be against the idea of playing host for you; I want to help Flash Fire badly enough to go through with it. If I didn't know any better I'd say you planned this." He accused jokingly.

"I would never."

"Come on now," Steel Wing chuckled, "You've known me for at least four days, and you still can't tell when I'm joking?"

"Right, jokes. You like to make jokes quite often." The Nightmare reminded herself.

"So with you inhabiting my body, we would merge our souls and have 'excess' which we could use to help Flash Fire, correct?"

"Yes, that is right." The Nightmare said with a somewhat distant smile, "It is refreshing to have someone to talk to about the general function of souls. There was some research done into the function of a pieced apart soul. The bearer of the element of generosity mangled her soul in horrible ways for her friends. That was not however a full study into the potential power of souls, had she been giving more time she very well may have gone farther; once the balefire apocalypse came all her research was halted, along with her death."

"Wow." Steel Wing took a moment to reflect on the Nightmare's words. "This is sort of similar, but much less efficient than what she did."

"It would be more complete than what the element of generosity accomplished. The soul jars she created still exist however. Yours is- Well fractured to put it simply."

Steel Wing rubbed his temples in circles, which he was fairly sure did nothing; he had come to understand that in this place he didn't actually have a physical body, just a spiritual representation.

"How will the ritual work?" Steel Wing asked, aware that there wouldn't be a simple answer.

"It will require a special reagent, that I cannot produce by myself. There is however a significant source of the material in one of the abandoned fallout shelters."

"Stables," Steel Wing said quickly, "now just spit it out."

"It requires what you know as star metal; alchemically liquified star metal at that."

"I'm not much of an alchemist." Steel Wing informed her.

"I know, but there is a mad zebra who is. She is a devout follower of mine, and I've had limited communication with her."

"I think one of those unicorn assassins warned me about a crazy zebra."

"I don't know what to say about that."

"Me neither but I vaguely remember it coming up." Steel Wing shrugged, and dismissed it from his thoughts.

"I must confess, I was very certain you would choose this third option; I was, at the same time, afraid you would hear the first option and stick with it. You have been known to be somewhat stubborn in my defense."

"Why are you 'confessing' this to me?" Steel Wing raised an eyebrow.

"I sent the alchemist to the town you are resting the night you asked for a way to fix the broken unicorn."

"I see." Steel Wing said thoughtfully, "Not a big deal, really. I found my sister by the way!"

"The one that has been a part of your dreams for so many years, the one with which you have an incestuous relationship?"

"Yeah, the one and only." Steel Wing confirmed awkwardly, "It does sound weird when someone says it like that."

"That explains the recent surge in emotion I felt from you. I think this will be a very good thing for you. Above all else, you seem to care what she says." The Nightmare looked around for a moment in thought, "She may even be able to talk you out of some of your worse ideas?"

"Hah, yeah. Good one." Steel Wing laughed to let her know she'd succeeded at humor.

"I think this is where we should end our discussion, you'll find returning very difficult when the sun is at it's peak."

"What is this zebra's name by the way?" Steel Wing snuck in one more question.

"Xenobia."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steel Wing was wide awake the instant he left the Nightmare's domain, which he realized would technically also be his domain before long.

He was also aware that something was pressed against his lips, it was another set of lips; his sister's to be exact. Steel Wing had no reason to complain, but he still drew back in surprise.

"I had to have another taste after last night." Snow Storm giggled that cute giggle Steel Wing so adored.

"Does that mean you're feeling better?" Steel Wing licked his lips, and tasted fresh rainwater.

"Yeah, I do feel better. Being curled up next to you makes my problems go away. I'm sorry I scared you out of the room last night."

"Don't apologize to me, ever." Steel Wing said, going in for another kiss.

"I promise." She said leaning in the rest of the way.

"Nice." Corona said from a partially opened door.

"Fuck!" Steel Wing shouted looking for an object to throw at the door. The only thing available to him was his sister, and she was out of the question.

"Oh if you were going to, I can tell the zebra to wait. She did say you'd be expecting her though."

With a long drawn out sigh Steel Wing got out of bed. He looked back at his sister, who had a slightly forlorn look. He couldn't just walk away from that face.

"Give me an hour." Steel Wing said, climbing back into bed.

"Can do." Corona saluted and walked off.

"You didn't have to do that, if you have something to do I understand."

"When it comes to you, I'd make the whole world wait just to spend some time with you."

"I love you so much." She kissed him again.

"That taste!" Steel Wing grunted, returning her kiss hungrily.

Snow Storm was delighted by her brother's forcefulness, she giggled when his tongue tickled the inside of her mouth. Steel Wing tensed up; he was starting something he wasn't sure he could finish. Nevermind they only had an hour, he still wasn't sure he could give her what he was accidentally offering.

While Steel Wing was busy doubting himself, Snow Storm coaxed him into rolling onto his back. She crawled on top of him and continued to accept her brother's affections.

When Steel Wing started paying attention again, he noticed his sister straddling his chest. He could have done this all day and been happy; he could tell by her increasing aggressiveness she wanted more.

"Snow, wait." Steel Wing broke the kiss.

"Mmmm...?" Snow Storm moaned dreamily.

"I don't think an hour would be enough time for- This." He shifted awkwardly under his sister, hoping she wouldn't be upset.

Snow Storm laid down on her brother's chest and stared into his eyes. "Could I do something to convince you to stay?" She asked suggestively.

Yes. There were a great many things.

"I should go for now. Later today, or maybe this evening?" Steel Wing cringed, fully ready for the look of despair on his sister's face. A look that never came.

"Tonight makes more sense I guess." She seemed a little let down, but not as utterly crushed as Steel Wing had feared. "I could make it a special night; wine candles, music- Maybe music." She began to cheer up as she listed what she was going to need.

Steel Wing breathed a sigh of relief when she dismounted him, it was getting harder and harder for him to want to leave.

"Yeah, so tonight. When were you thinking?" Steel Wing gave her control over the nights events, while wondering just how he was going to make tonight special for her.

"Seven or eight?" She muttered distractedly.

"Sounds good." Steel Wing backed away while he could still get away with not specifying a time.

----

Steel Wing made his way quickly to Corona's office, having been informed by the guard that "some weird zebra" was waiting for him there. He more or less barged into the room without any thought of knocking; he was still thinking about how he was going to make the evening work.

"Things did not go well with your sister?" A strange, exotic voice came from behind Steel Wing.

Steel Wing jumped having just come down the empty hallway.

"How did you- What?" Steel Wing turned to face the sneaky pony.

No, of course it's not a pony; zebras are the weird ones. Steel Wing confirmed once he was face to face with the zebra mare.

"I was using the restroom; also the bird told me." She said walking past him.

"That isn't actually weird; and why is Corona passing out information about my personal life like that?" Steel Wing said mildly surprised and annoyed.

"Not as weird as you were thinking at least. Unfortunately I do not have an answer to your birdfriend's actions." She chuckled, before walking over to a small, one pony couch.

Steel Wing noticed something odd about the way she approached the couch; she still had several feet to go, and stretched a hoof forwards. She pawed at the air for a moment before bringing her hoof lower; when it didn't make contact with anything she took two long, awkward steps forward and repeated the process. The second time she found the cushion and hoped up quickly. Once she was laying comfortably she turned to face Steel Wing, who hadn't moved from the doorway.

"You're-" Steel Wing began, before the zebra interrupted him.

"Yes, since birth."

"Blind?" Steel Wing finished unsurely.

The zebra mare said nothing.

"How did you-" Steel Wing tried again, and again the zebra interrupted.

"I knew you hadn't moved from the door as you made no sound; therefore I expected you'd watched me try to find the couch. It was a near certainty that you would come to realize I could not see."

"Okay," Steel Wing agreed skeptically, "now that that's out of the way; you were sent by the-"

"The Moon Goddess, yes. She has spoken to me, much the same way she has spoken to you. She sent me to find you."

"Right, and-"

"She has told me much of you, and your plans."

"The ritual?" Steel Wing nearly shouted, happy to get a full thought out.

"Yes, I am here to assist you."

"What do-"

"I know what is needed, the Moon Goddess has instructed me. However-"

Steel Wing facehoofed, "However, something excruciatingly complicated is going to need to be done?" He finished for her.

"Yes, it requires star metal; as you may or may not know. An large quantity no less."

"Do you not have any?" Steel Wing rolled his eyes, knowing full well what the answer was.

"Not exactly, but there is an adequate supply not far from here."

"There's a 'large quantity' of star metal anywhere in Mexicolt? Color me surprised." Steel Wing said sarcastically.

"I was told you are purple. A very lovely purple at that."

Corona Steel Wing hissed her name in his mind. This time he wasn't as sure why.

"Yeah, it was humor with an edge I haven't learned to drop yet." Steel Wing admitted.

"I know. In fact I have heard much of you. From both my goddess and the population of Mexicolt."

"You've only been in town a few hours, what population of Mexicolt could you have talked to?"

"I have traveled very far in my days. Very few tales escape my ears. Several days ago, the Moon Goddess told me of your discovery as a potential harbinger of her power. She told me some of your past in Mexicolt City, and so I went to learn more of you."

"Thanks for taking an interest in my history. I think." Steel Wing was a bit uncomfortable knowing he was soon to be reminded of his actions in Mexicolt City.

"You are an unusual and impressive stallion to be sure. You try to help those who are in need, but you do not go out of your way to punish those who deserve it. While repaying your debt to a crime lord, you refused to kill to enforce his policies. According to one rather bitter mare, you said goodbye by kicking her out of a third story window."

"Second story," Steel Wing muttered semi-guiltily, "It had a high ceiling on the first floor."

"On top of all of these things, you are known to be, trusting to a fault, trustworthy and loyal. To those who wrong you, you pay in kind; you then offer a chance for peace, often to be wronged again. You were dedicated to going the rest of your life without finding love because you were forced to leave yours behind."

Steel Wing cringed at the last bit of her story.

"In many or most cultures such incestuous relationships are frowned upon, and in many cases are cause for exile. At the very least it was true of my tribe, as well as the Enclave from what I've heard."

"Who are you to make a judgment of my life." Steel Wing growled defensively. "I wasn't exiled from the Enclave for loving my sister I was forced out by a traitorous bastard."

The zebra mare shifted uncomfortable at his threatening tone, "You misunderstand, I did not mean to judge you. I was making a statement about the sort of love you have. It is a rare thing to have a love as strong as yours. I believe you will need this love as you continue your journeys. You value her opinion over all else, in time it will be your savior."

"Oh." Steel Wing said, taken aback by his overreaction, "I'm sorry; thank you I suppose."

"Think nothing of it."

"Your name was Xenobia, right?"

"Correct."

"Then, Xenobia, back to the subject; where-"

"There is an old stable, one where the inhabitants put up enough of a resistance to drive the old Mexicolt overlords away. When one of their own was sent out, it was discovered that the tunnel to their vault was obstructed by a large rock."

"The rock was actually a huge chunk of star metal?"

"Not exactly a 'chunk' so to speak." She said with a smile, "It was another celestial being. A true alicorn. Dormant, and therefore weakened. Curiosity won out and the stable ponies began to experiment with their discover. The alicorn was roused to defend itself, but found that exterminating an entire population would in no way help it. Instead it subjugated them exercising what remained of its power to instill fear in their hearts. Once dominance was established it ruled over them. For a time it was, for lack of a better word, good; the stable provided all that was needed for survival as it always had. There was however a problem. What was left behind of the alicorn's shell began to poison the local inhabitants, as star metal is known to do. It took years for the full effect to take hold of the entire population, but by then all were weak from the star's influence. The alicorn cared very little at first, but when the toxic source was found out there was a panic to escape. In the rush the mechanism for opening the door of the stable was damaged; trapping all of its inhabitants for the foreseeable future. Thus ended the life of the stable."

"Wow, that is fairly sad." Steel Wing said in disbelief. "Why the strange emphasis on 'life' though?"

"The old inhabitants still roam the stable, now directly bound to the will of their overlord."

"Why didn't they just toss the metal back out?"

"The alicorn would not let them. It had no desire to leave the stable, and it is bound to what it arrived with; much the way any true alicorn is."

"That can't be. I never remember seeing a picture of Princess Celestia or Luna carrying around a large piece of poisonous metal. You'd think that may have caught someone's attention back then." Steel Wing chuckled.

"The royal regalia worn by the princesses was in a very similar fashion to what we ourselves intend to do. The palace itself was constructed using a star metal alloy for the foundation."

"There really is an answer for everything isn't there?" Steel Wing mused.

"The sooner it is retrieved, the better. I will show you the way."

"As in, today?" Steel Wing raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, today, preferably before noon."

"What do I need?"

"What you would normally bring to a fight."

"So a psychotic griffon, a green doctor and some healing potions."

"If you must, know that the very air of that place will eventually begin to kill them. It has been some years, and I have no way of knowing when the irreversible damage will set in."

"Will you be alright?" Steel Wing asked, reconsidering his plans.

"I have received the blessing of the Moon Goddess, I am not immune to the star metal's poisonous influence, but I will be able to with you most of the way."

"I'll see if Corona wants to go, but- No she has a foal to take care of, I think it'll just be you and me."

"Very well." Xenobia rose and walked off the couch. She stood quietly for a moment took a few more steps forward and waited again.

"Something wrong?" Steel Wing asked, clearing his throat.

Xenobia's ears twitched when he spoke, and she walked around him into the hall.

"You could have said something; or asked me to say something, I don't know." Steel Wing called after her, having caught on.

She was out the front door by the time he'd finished speaking.

"She's blind, not really all that 'mad.'" Steel Wing said to the room before following her out.

--------------------------------------

It took almost thirty minutes for Steel Wing to find Corona and Autumn Heart to tell them of his plans. Autumn Heart almost insisted upon going, but Steel Wing had negated all her insistence by simply saying, "You'll die." After that there was no more arguing. Corona would have gone, but her arm still wasn't healed; with Autumn Heart being a part of the conversation, Corona quickly chose to needle her with all sorts of slightly pointed questions. Steel Wing used the opportunity to sneak away, to find his sister.

Snowstorm had been much less receptive to his plans. She'd threatened to tranquilize him if he didn't take her. This was the first disagreement he'd had with his sister in three years; it was also one of very few they'd ever had, aside from sibling squabbles when they were younger. When he'd brought up their plans for tonight, and how she'd volunteered to get things together, she'd relented. Twice she'd called after him to wait, twice he'd been dismissed by her almost against her will.

Once he'd passed by Loot's Loot, the town general store; he walked away, his head hung in shame.

He now walked alongside Xenobia, an hour's walk out of town. When he'd asked how the hell she knew she was even heading the right direction, using much more careful wording, she'd answered cryptically saying, "I know."

Steel Wing had dropped the question after her response. It just wasn't worth the trouble.

Not mad, maddening. Steel Wing grinned at his snarky inner comment.

"I guess I don't exactly understand how this is supposed to work, but why does the ritual require the metal to be melted alchemically? Wouldn't it be simpler to just smelt it?"

"Not only is the melting point of such material nearly unattainable by mortal beings, molten star metal would kill you before the ritual was complete." Xenobia said, continuing to stare straight ahead.

"What is that supposed to mean? It's not like you're pouring star metal on me, right?" Steel Wing said nervously.

"No no no of course not, that would be wasteful. You will be submerged in it."

Steel Wing stopped walking.

Not just maddening, she is mad.

"You really are out of your mind aren't you." Steel Wing shouted, taking a few steps away from Xenobia.

"Well, yes. I do not see what this has to do with the ritual."

"I'm going to drown in poisonous metal!"

"You will be fine." She assured, laughing a little at the silliness of his fear.

"Sure, sure I will. When this is over with, there's a good chance this is going up to the top of the list of incredibly stupid things I've done."

"That is not a short list, I'm sure."

"Yep." Steel Wing said pseudo-proudly.

They both laughed at his expense.

"At least you have a decent sense of humor." Steel Wing said, resuming his pace with Xenobia.

"What do you mean humor?" She asked, actually looking in his direction.

Steel Wing saw her eyes for the first time. It was unsettling how well they focused on him, since he knew she could not see. They were an opaque light purple in color, that Steel Wing knew he would be unable to forget for some time.

Now that she was to be his his partner in battle in the near future, he began to take stock of her. She carried herself well, her steps were sure and steady. He looked over her body, in the most respectful way he could, and saw her black and white stripes; beneath which well toned muscles shifted with every movement she made. Steel Wing found himself hypnotized by the rhythmic shifting of her stripes.He was unable to keep track of what moved first, the stripes or her legs, sometimes it was one, then the other; never did they appear to be in unison, but they were always fluid and constant. He stopped himself before staring at her flank by reflex. He silently questioned the reason for this, but remembered she'd been the last to ask a question.

"Y-You're serious?"

She nodded.

"When someone makes a joke and you laugh, that's humor I guess." Steel Wing struggled to find an accurate definition of humor. That was apparently a piece of knowledge the Nightmare hadn't passed along; he couldn't help but think he'd tried to explain it to her on several occasions.

"I know that, but I made no jokes; there was no humor to my words."

"You laughed though." Steel Wing pointed out.

"Laughter of any sort can be infectious; I said what I meant and you found humor in it, this is what occurred."

"So you were actually just agreeing with me about how many times I've messed up in the past?" Steel Wing asked a little put off.

"You could put it that way, yes."

Steel Wing just put his eyes forward and walked in silence.

Xenobia broke the half hour long silence by saying, "We are near."

"That was quick." Steel Wing said, still a little put out by their earlier exchange.

"I said it was close did I not?"

"You sure did." Steel Wing said, giving her a puzzled look.

They continued on in silence for only a moment longer before Xenobia stopped suddenly. She began to turn and trot in place for a few moments before continuing forward. Once she stopped moving again, she began to scuff at the ground.

"The entrance is very close." She said shortly, starting to dance around in place again.

"What are you trying to do though?"

"It is said the entrance is opened by a peculiar method; I am making my first attempt to open it."

Steel Wing nodded quietly and scanned the area. There were several rocky outcroppings scattered about; in most cases Stable-tec built the Mexicolt stables near significant landmarks as Steel Wing understood. The fact that there wasn't anything over five feet tall told him that they were either in the wrong place or it was an abnormal stable.

"Are you sure we're here?" Steel Wing said as politely as he could. " Regardless of how peculiar it was or wasn't, Stable-tec was known for making the location of the actual entrance obvious."

Another careful study of the area let Steel Wing see a slightly misshapen bubble of space near some rocks, and he moved to investigate.

Tread carefully. The Nightmare cautioned, Magic is at work here.

"Xenobia, I think I found it." Steel Wing called.

The blind zebra quickly made her way to his side, where she stood silently.

"It is already open, isn't it?" She asked flatly.

"Maybe, I can't actually see it. I believe there is a magical barrier here."

"Walk through it." Xenobia suggested rather forcefully.

Instead of protesting, Steel Wing went along with it; truth be told he was almost ready to anyways.

He took three confident steps toward the strangely warped spot and suddenly saw a raised, mechanical ramp, with stairs leading down into a dark tunnel. A unicorn sat near by the open entrance shuddering slightly just as Steel Wing stepped inside the barrier.

"Mistress! But how did you-" She stopped suddenly when she noticed Steel Wing's masculine features and distinct lack of a horn. Despite however many similarities he shared with the alicorn the young mare normally followed this was not her.

"That alicorn is here too!?" Steel Wing said shouted.

The unicorn stiffened up noticeably, she recognized that as the voice of a severely dead pegasus form the day before.

Steel Wing cleared his throat and tried a different tone, "So you remember me don't you?"

The young teal mare nodded slowly.

"So you remember how I died yesterday?"

Again she nodded.

"Good, then you know better than to try and fight me, yes?"

"Yes." She managed to croak.

"Good, now is that alicorn already in the stable?"

"She went in some time ago, I was tasked with maintaining the barrier while she was down there with the others. None of them came back, but one of those things came out." She pointed to what most would consider a "ghoul" were it not for the fact that it's skin was a shade familiar blackish blue and tight to the skeleton, was in pristine condition; showing no signs of radiation poisoning. It was dead, but a light amount of dust was escaping it's mouth.

"It charged out at me howling, and bit me before I had a chance to react. My leg is decaying, and I don't know what to do!"

She turned to show Steel Wing a very infected looking wound. The teeth markings were visible and deep, the skin around it was in the late stages of necrosis and spreading slowly.

"That looks like it's going to need to come off." Steel Wing said evenly.

"What!?" She cried drawing away from the imposing pegasus.

"Star metal poisoning is deadly in the most minute of doses, you're lucky it didn't bite something you need to survive."

"But-"

"He is right." Xenobia said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere to Steel Wing's right. "Or I could give you this pendant, which will stave off any further necrosis until the alicorn within can heal it."

"That'd work I guess, but do you have an extra?" Steel Wing said with a tone that suggested amputation would be far more convenient. The fact that this particular unicorn had actively tried to kill him coupled with the Nightmare's disdain for all things related to the mass produced alicorns belonging to unity, left Steel Wing unable to really care what happened to her.

"No, which would mean you would go alone. You would however be safe from any of the poisons found inside. Perhaps it is best that I do not go, if the stable dweller's bite is now toxic."

"I imagine a bite plus the polluted atmosphere would overwhelm you before you had a chance to escape." Steel Wing said, the Nightmare's knowledge on the issue shining through.

"Alright, she keeps her leg." Steel Wing said with an unnecessary amount of exasperation.

"You're going to help me, after yesterday."

"Would you rather I took your leg off now, because I can."

"I just-" She averted her gaze to the ground. "Thank you."

"That'll do." Steel Wing and the Nightmare both agreed.

With that, Steel Wing descended into the stable of the damned hastily; the thought of his sister waiting for him pushed him forward forcefully.